Â?IÂ?m a self-made woman,Â? Hollister says. Â?I didnÂ?t have any connections when I came out here. I did it from the ground up.Â?

In 1999, Hollister graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, with a bachelor of fine arts degree in theater performance. Three months after graduation, she headed to California to pursue a career in film and television. She enrolled in improvisation and on-camera classes and began shopping for an agent.

Â?I got my headshots and a book that listed all the agents in Los Angeles,Â? she says, Â?and started sending them out blindly.Â?

Hollister found representation at a midsized boutique and within a year landed her first television role, on the Fox show Â?Boston Public.Â?

Â?I had no credentials, and here I was being sent to audition for David E. KelleyÂ?s new show,Â? Hollister says.

Not only did she land the guest spot of girl wrestler Christine Banks, but the part turned into a four-episode arc.

Â?It was the first season of Â?Boston Public,Â? and my character ended up dying on the show,Â? Hollister says. Â?There was this big funeral scene. ThatÂ?s why it was so memorable to people.Â?

The exposure led to more auditions, and auditions turned into more roles.

She originated the character of Susan Adamson on NBCÂ?s daytime series Â?Days of Our Lives,Â? and has had notable guest starring turns on Â?ER,Â? Â?Nip/Tuck,Â? Â?Law & Order: SVU,Â? Â?Joan of Arcadia,Â? Â?ScrubsÂ? Â?Cold Case,Â? Â?My Name Is Earl,Â? Â?Big Love,Â? Â?Desperate Housewives,Â? Â?The ShieldÂ? and Â?CSI: NY.Â?

Hollister, who describes herself as a character actor, says her body type has hindered her from getting some roles and helped her land others.

When heading into an audition, she says, actors should be aware that shape, size, height, age and ethnicity play a big part in casting.

Â?I donÂ?t look like 99.9 percent of actresses in Los Angeles,Â? Hollister says. Â?Weight is a huge issue out here, but itÂ?s a double-edged sword because I also know I wouldnÂ?t have started my career the way I did if I wasnÂ?t overweight, because that was the role.Â?

Hollister says her best audition experience, however, was for a part where producers didnÂ?t have a particular shape in mind. The part was for a character named Xena in a 2006 episode of Â?My Name Is Earl.Â?

Â?She worked in a fast-food place with Earl and she kept dropping her retainer in the oil,Â? Hollister says. Â?I remember just being so in the zone during that audition. The producers were laughing so hard they didnÂ?t know what to say to me. I booked it by 10 a.m. the next day.Â?

And her worst moment? That would be during the first season of Â?Ugly Betty,Â? which Hollister says she can now discuss because the show has moved to New York.

Â?The mood was just cold as ice in that room,Â? she says. Â?I did this scene that was supposed to be funny and you could hear crickets in the next town. I walked out feeling horrible.Â?

Although she didnÂ?t get the role, Hollister says learning from those experiences is an essential part of being a working actor.

Â?There are people who can walk out of a bad audition and move on, but IÂ?m not there yet,Â? she says. Â?ThereÂ?s a saying out here, Â?The best audition is often the one you give in the car on the way home.Â? Â?

HollisterÂ?s most recent audition landed her the role of Steve CarellÂ?s dance partner in the now-famous ballroom scene in this summerÂ?s Â?Get Smart.Â? During a callback, Hollister knew she would be asked to dance; she just didnÂ?t know how intense the choreography would be.

Â?I had that moment of real panic that I wasnÂ?t going to be able to do this,Â? she says. Â?IÂ?m not Â?Dancing With the StarsÂ? here. By the time I walked out, my feet hurt and I had no idea how I had done.Â?

It turns out she did pretty well. She was the only actress asked to meet with director Peter Segal, who cast her in the part.

Although Â?Get SmartÂ? has earned more than $120 million at the box office and given Hollister coveted exposure, in the fickle world of Hollywood, she says, auditions have been surprisingly scarce. Hollister says any momentum she gained from the role has been squashed as the industry recovers from a writerÂ?s strike and the threat of a Screen Actors Guild strike that has pushed back start times of many film productions.

Â?There are ebbs and flows to this business,Â? Hollister says. Â?I should be going on a lot of auditions now, but thereÂ?s not a lot out right now. It just makes you realize that every audition counts.Â?